Other: Vale of Glamorgan Council

Mrs A complained that the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Stage 1 complaint response said that it should have identified the error with her public notice for her licensing application from the outset, but it declined to re-imburse her the cost to re-advertise.

The Ombudsman decided that the Council had already taken some appropriate action in response to Mrs A’s complaint. It had assisted Mrs A to resubmit her application and requested a review of the current application process. However, information provided to Mrs A about the validation process was unclear. Had the Council notified Mrs A of the error from the outset, she could have amended her public notice at no extra cost. The validation process caused delays and frustration for Mrs A. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.

The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to apologise to Mrs A for not providing clear information about the validation process and to pay the sum equal to the cost of re-advertising the public notice, within 10 working days.